AMC Won't Order Any Pilots This Go-Round

After narrowing its development field to six scripts, which had been undergoing thorough evaluation for the past two months, AMC ultimately decided not to pick up any of them to pilot at this time. This does not mean that all six projects are dead. I hear that two of them, The Voyage and an untitled racing project, will remain in contention and are expected to be redeveloped. Space epic Voyage, from writer/executive producer John Shiban and executive producer Lynda Obst, is described as a grounded look at human beings’ first contact with extraterrestrial life seen through the eyes of an ambitious female scientist and her team at Jet Propulsion Laboratories. Sony TV is producing.

Voyage, the racing project and four other scripts — The Man With the Golden Ears,The 4th Estate, The Wreck and American Made — took part in the network’s annual pilot script “bake-off” in early March, in which they faced off in a series of elaborate presentations, with the producing team for each project showing a promo reel and each creator pitching in detail the series beyond the pilot, including mapping out the first season. After examining each presentation, I hear AMC brass determined that none of the six scripts were ready to go to pilot at this time. AMC has been very selective in its pilot orders as 100% of them have gone to pilot so far: Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Rubicon, The Walking Dead (straight to series), The Killing and the upcoming Hell On Wheels.

32 Comments

AMC is impossible. Granted, the make good product but it’s impossible to make anything happen there.

tom j • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

maybe if the broadcast networks had the freedom to say “none of the above” to their development slate they wouldn’t have seasons in which nearly every new show is canceled

amc has a great business model

tough is good

Jared Allen • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

If I was the writer on any of these projects, and I heard that the network wasn’t picking up my show after they asked me to pitch an ENTIRE SEASON of material, the first thing I would do is call my agent and tell them to send a bill for a series bible.

Rob • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Yeah, but…if you can’t be bothered to think through what the first thirteen episodes of your show might be, you have no business pitching a pilot. How many shows have we all seen where it’s incredibly obvious that nobody bothered to think beyond episode 3?

Jared Allen • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

I completely agree that you should think through your season before you write the pilot. But there is a difference between you knowing what you want to do should your show go to series, and you handing over those plans for free. There’s a reason the WGA has a Series Bible in the Minimum Basic Agreement and why it has a minimum of almost $50,000. The executives asking for this stuff aren’t showing up to work for free, why should the writers?

Shaun • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

I agree with you Jared. The writers should get paid for showing up with their bibles or maybe some kind of bullet point outline for the first season of their show.

Wish Syfy was more selective with their series like AMC.

In AMC’s defense, I have enjoyed all their dramas. Rubicon was a bit dis jointed, but I liked it.

Jared Allen • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Think about this. You hire an architect to redesign your kitchen. You pay her for her work, and she hands you the blueprints. You then say, “I’m thinking of redesigning the rest of the house. Would you like to show me what you would do with that, and then if I like it, I’ll decide whether to pay you or not?” The architect would laugh in your face. As should every writer.

Terrence • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

GREAT ANALOGY! I love it.

It’s a shame writing is taken for granted.
It’s a shame that everyone wants to see everything before committing.

Well networks, sometimes you have to put up or shut up. I understand needing to know where something is going (something the broadcast networks should learn from instead of ordering series with narrow premises) but it’s another to ask for the moon. Why should the writers and producers shoulder all the risk?

Curious • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

This is all based on the assumption the writer’s weren’t paid for the work they put into the bake off. Do we know this as fact or are we just ASSuming (notice the emphasis)?

J • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

The argument against your analogy is within the analogy itself. AMC wasn’t asking for two sets of blueprints for each show–they were asking for an initial blueprint. If you were to hire an architect, would you hire him/her without having at least a working print of the plans for the project? It should be the same way with a tv show–the writers should have a plan mapped out for where they are going to go. It’s not the same as writing scripts for free–it’s outlining, and it’s something that smart writers do (I should know; I am a writer who also teaches it).

Jared Allen • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

I’ve been involved with networks asking for these things. It’s in depth. It is NOT a simple outline. You are basically writing a series bible but if the network were to ask for that, they would have to pay for it. So instead they call it “series outlook” or “potential story arenas” or “series sales document” or “character journey summaries”. They are all synonyms for “series bible” but the network will never call it that because the WGA would make them pay for it if they did. The moment pen hits paper, it is writing by the WGA definition. And WGA writers are not supposed to do that without being appropriately compensated. The network paid for a pilot. Asking for anything more than the 50-60 pages of the pilot they paid for, and asking for it for free is not just wrong, but in violation of their contracts with the WGA.

Mike • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

That’s a crappy analogy because it assumes the writers didn’t get paid. Why wouldn’t they have?

whathesaid • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Good point!!

Hope this lockout ends and you can get back on the field soon, Jared!

100stones3x • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Alas, this seems to be the new paradigm. I don’t do much work in TV, but in the film business these days you spend most of your time writing for free.

Angst Lee • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

AMC is still haunted by what a trainwreck RUBICON became… I can see why the creator bailed.

Durrr • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

The Rubicon creator was FIRED because, as Rob commented above, it was incredibly obvious that nobody bothered to think beyond episode 3. The new guy was great, but too late. Durrrr.

Writer • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Not at all. The creator knew exactly where the show was going. It was to be a conspiracy involving Iran. AMC decided they didn’t want that and told the creator to do something completely different. New showrunners were brought in and you got the show AMC wanted.

And it failed. That one’s on the suits.

bounder • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

God, “Rubicon” sucked.

Del • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Rubicon was a brilliant show and I was sorry it was not renewed. The conspiracy was interesting and intelligent, there were some great characters and good actors. The look ofthe show was beautiful. Also the depiction of the stress of a workplace warlock more realistic than other TV shows. Too bad AMC didnot renew it and give it more of a chance. At least they still have Mad Men.

ConspiracyTheorist • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Spengler should have jumped.

W.R. • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Seriously mis-guided. The racing show is a “Grand Prix Racing show set in the 60s”. ANOTHER 60s show in the wake of Pan Am and Playboy Club being picked up? (Not to mention their flagship show is set in the 60s.) Grand Prix Racing? Who cares? Why even put these writers through this process if supposedly “the script weren’t ready”? Isn’t that the point of the development process?
AMC is batting 2 for 5; Rubicon was excruciating, Walking Dead had a great pilot and then nothing else, and The Killing is predictable, boring network drivel stretched out over the course of 13 episodes. Hell on Wheels looks promising, but so did Walking Dead. Awful abuse of talent to have these “bake-offs” and then trash the scripts in the press. No wonder the Mad Men negotiations were such a carnival.

jf • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Totally disagree about The Killing. I absolutely love it. It just shows that good writing and directing dosen’t requite big name stars. The cast of The Killing is first rate. I hope AMC will keep it around after this killing is solved.

Patricia • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Plus they are hiring Rubicon writers to develop the racing show! Go figure…AMC has no more respect to lose!

Harry • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

I heard AMC was going back to showing uncut classic films.

Bob • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

AMC is broken and broke.

cable guy • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

The ratings on The Killing are nothing spectacular. The critical love for the show has waned considerably since all the praise for the pilot episode. If AMC does bring the show back for a second season, it needs major changes. I think ratings will hold steady for the rest of the current season as audiences who’ve already followed 3/4 of the series stick with the final couple of episodes to see how it all wraps up. At it’s current level of quality, I actually see a lot of people bailing and not following the second season.

AMC’s best work has all been picked up in turnaround. The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Mad Men were developed for other networks. They should look at pilots like Locke and Key; it targets the same audience as their hit The Walking Dead and already has a built in audience. (Rumor has it they are shopping it to SyFy)

None of the pilots in the “bake off” really sounded all that interesting.

That being said, they seem to be too picky about quality when the only two shows they’ve developed have been pretty weak, with a couple of dicey sounding reality series in the pipeline.

W.R. • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Cable guy-

Are you even familiar w/ the pilots that were in contention? Did you read any scripts? because if so, let’s save the dismissive tone. None of us can really be sure of anything other than AMC clearly doesn’t have its house in order.

Gracie • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

How can a business survive in the entertainment industry when the process it uses to vet potential projects not only comes up short but insults everyone in the process? Can a business model survive that yields no-win siutations?

fed up • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Cable guy

All of Amc’s hits were not in turnaround.

Mad Men was a spec pilot no one developed. Amc was the first channel to buy it.
The Walking Dead was a pitch that AMC bought and beat out HBO on.

Breaking bad was the only pilot that was in turnaround and from FX.

Get your facts straight before you spew garbage you know nothing about!

cable guy • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

The Walking Dead originally shot a pilot with NBC. Then it was at HBO with Guillermo Del Toro attached as a producer. Then Gale Anne Hurd and Frank Darabont pitched their version to AMC.

HBO passed on Mad Men when David Chase declined to be a producer on the show and the script was then taken to AMC.

The Breaking Bad pilot was shot for F/X and wasn’t picked up.

fed up • on May 17, 2011 1:00 pm

Cable Guy – you have no idea what you are talking about.

Circle of Confusion owned the Comic The Walking Dead and brought it to AMC before Gale Anne Hurd or Frank Darabont were ever attached to it. They then attached both of them and pitched it to a few networks and AMC won the project.
Mad Men was a spec script shopped to every network and passed on. HBO had nothing to do with the development of the script. NOTHING.
Breaking bad was never made as a pilot at FX it was developed as a script, put in turnaround and AMC bought it and AMC made the pilot.
You are a complete moron. Why don’t you go back to old Variety articles, do some homework and get your facts straight.